The introduction provides an overview of White’s significance to literary studies and the ways in which her illness and identity narratives have shaped her critical reception. It outlines and ...
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The introduction provides an overview of White’s significance to literary studies and the ways in which her illness and identity narratives have shaped her critical reception. It outlines and historicises the medical, psychoanalytic and religious contexts within which White’s experiences of illness unfolded. It also provides an overview of White scholarship and shows how the failure to address the role of illness in White’s life and work characterises that scholarship. It shows how scholars have often interpreted symptoms of illness—including White’s protracted psychotic episode—as signs of incest trauma.Less

Introduction

Patricia Moran

Published in print: 2018-04-01

The introduction provides an overview of White’s significance to literary studies and the ways in which her illness and identity narratives have shaped her critical reception. It outlines and historicises the medical, psychoanalytic and religious contexts within which White’s experiences of illness unfolded. It also provides an overview of White scholarship and shows how the failure to address the role of illness in White’s life and work characterises that scholarship. It shows how scholars have often interpreted symptoms of illness—including White’s protracted psychotic episode—as signs of incest trauma.